Issue
33 took a while to get together, with major building work
on the old homestead, and quite a lot on my own plate. We kept
holding it back from the printers hoping for a listen to the
new album HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHT, but kept getting blocked (I rang
Polydor one day and could hear it being played in the office,
but that was as much as I was allowed!) - although I was asked
to contribute to the tour programme which was nice. As we hadn't
heard the album, it had to be a retro piece by and large!

The
magazine carried the usual detailed time table of events leading
up to the release, and I was able to have a hurried listen to
the finished record before going to press (on vinyl, although
the news of an extended CD edition began to cause us to waver).
It's an album which has come in for some stick over the years
(with a retrospective look in more recent issues of the magazine
sparking lively debate), although looking back I don't think
my high and low points have changed too much. A couple of great
tracks, but a perceived lack of interest from the guitarist
held other tracks back. All this and grumbles about the UK tour
dates kept getting shunted back (even though ticket offices
had taken cash for them months before) took up the first seven
pages of the mag!

The
other big section was the record reviews, and we had our work
cut out trying to keep up with the new releases, especially
the bootlegs (with over two dozen covered in a special catch
up list on the back cover). The Deep Purple Rises Over Japan
video surfaced again, this time on CBS, but was cancelled a
second time. Otherwise, with little activity from the band outside
the recording, we were able to drop in some interesting reprinted
interviews and features from around the world.

And
the world waited with baited breath as Coverdale put the finishing
touches to what was to become his biggest selling album ever.
Just twenty pages this time then, but the chance to purchase
our Perfect Street Rangers t-shirt which went down really well
(someone threw one on stage for Gillan when the gigs finally
arrived - caused him some amusement when he'd worked it out!).
One or two still surface at gigs even today, though sadly mine
is long past the stage where I dare wear it (or could fit into
it).

Deep Purple finally got down to recording on April 12th in America.
They checked out somewhere in Massachussetts but it was so bleak
that they all ended up back in Stowe, Vermont. lan spent a month
at Roger Glover's house in Greenwich writing prior to the start
of the sessions. lan Paice returned to the UK on Friday August
15th, and was collared a day later by one of our members Mark
Standing. lan told him that he'd left the others putting finishing
touches to the tapes. Come September 26th Roger Glover was mixing
the album at the Union Studios in Munich. The whole band were
supposed to be there, but people came and went as they were
needed, lan adding a few vocal tracks and so on. There were
some strange rumours about the album being issued early in some
countries, the Americans had been told to expect it at the end
of October. The album also seems to have gone through a few
title changes before they settled on House Of Blue Light; lan
Paice spoke of it as Black And White, after one of the tracks,
while less serious ones were The Acid Test, and It's Not That
Bad!.

Ritchie
Blackmore has said that much of the LP was re-recorded, so this
must have accounted for some of the delay. Test pressings only
arrived at Polydor on December 18th, and the release date was
also put back to January 12th. By this time the full extent
of the European tour was becoming clear, with venues following
the 1985 ones fairly closely in most places, However Germany
was set for considerably more shows, and they were also taking
in a few places not covered before. The warm-up gigs in Budapest
marked a first, it isn't since 1975 that the band have kicked
off behind the "iron curtain".

House
Of Blue Light - Album Review

Many
numbers just don't have the extra spark to lift them onto my
play-list. Let's face it, there are only so many hours in a
day, and I don't feel inclined to waste too many listening opportunities
putting on stuff which I really wanted to like but can't. To
me, as an album it doesn't scale the heights which Purple have
scaled before.

BAD ATTITUDE knocks me out, I've been playing it over and over,
it's probably the most powerful cut on the LP, with a no nonsense
feel and edge to it which is often lacking elsewhere. Gillan
does a great vocal, and the backing does him justice. Nowhere
else on the LP does the production sound balance out quite as
well as here either, with the right amount of everybody present
all of the time. THE UNWRITTEN LAW by contrast is weak. and
the efforts to introduce "current technology" only serve
to water things down even further. MAD DOG contains the most
truly godwaful keyboard noise in Jon's solo. Whatever it is,
destroy it or wipe it from the computer discs AT ONCE! STRANGEWAYS
is a great track and shows what they can still do. I suppose
it's the fact that they keep coming up with goodies like this
which makes it all the more frustrating with the lesser cuts.
The overall balance is back too - somehow this does seem vital
in keeping the Purple feel alive. I like DEAD OR ALIVE, not
least for the proper organ and guitar solos - and about bleedin'
time! There is something special about the vocal though which
I can't really put my finger on, it just has a weird haunting
quality. All the more curious that lan should write it off in
the recent Kerrang feature.

It's
a long album, something around 46 minutes or so. Originally
they'd been going to ditch a couple of the numbers, (MITZI DUPREE
was one they couldn't all agree on including), or save them
for the CD. The CD is in fact a few minutes longer than the
vinyl. The
single b-side will be STRANGEWAYS with the CD length cut on
the 12", so this is a help for non-CDers like myself. The sound
quality on the LP does suffer as a result of getting so much
on (as well as the usual thin vinyl.), and it does need to be
cranked up for full effect. I
do feel they'd benefit from someone from outside coming in to
handle production or something, someone who isn't bothered about
any outside pressures and who is also capable of capturing the
essence of Purple on disc. That would entail a greater effort
from the band too, the disc is very patchy. I personally will
be surprised if people take to it unreservedly, the people I've
heard from or spoken with so far haven't (some have been down
right damning!). After two years I had hoped for rather more.

Rises
Over Japan - Video Review

DEEP
PURPLE. RISES OVER JAPAN. CBS / Fox 3081-50 ; UK : withdrawn

We have reported the supposed imminent release of this video
tape for the past few issues, but as I write it seems no nearer
to reaching the stores. However you may recall the full page
ads In Kerrang. Review copies have a clock sequence top left
corner, running throughout, and at the start is a message saying
Special Test Cassette etc.

The filming is fairly basic. One camera around the mixing desk
position to provide long shots, another camera in front of the
stage providing better coverage, with the occasional good wide-angle
view. A third, hand held camera is roving about on-stage, but
this view isn't used very often. I'd guess that the film was
shot on one night, and that the arrival and disappearance of
both Lord's jacket and Paice's t-shirt are down to numbers being
out of sequence! Quality is average, the footage does seem dodgy
on focus at times, and there are moments when it gets really
poor - esp during Smoke... The sound goes in one or two places;
the keyboards disappear in Love Child, the vocals
go once or twice, etc. The credits are to Tony Klinger, he did
the Butterfly Ball film too.

Even
if the sound can be improved, the footage will still suffer
from the fact that the band were not performing too well for
various reasons, and it will remain as little more than an archive
record of Mk 4.

WHITESNAKE

The
Saga Of The New Album Continues - News

Rapidly
becoming the most "whatever happened to..." person in the Deep
Purple family, the world still waits for firm news of what David
Coverdale and his merry men have been or are up to. It does
seem as if part of the delay has been due to Coverdale having
throat problems, though what they were or how serious hasn't
been discussed. David seems to have been holed up in Hollywood
recently, putting some finishing touches to the album in LA.
Meanwhile John Sykes put his last minute guitar bits down at
a studio in Dublin. What with that, and the news that most of
the vocals were laid down in Barbados, and it looks like we'
re in for a credit list of mammoth proportions! The end result
of some 18 months work should be out here early in '87.

David
spoke about the new album (finished originally you'll recall
back in 1985) to a Spanish mag earlier this year :- "The producer
is Mike Stone, known above all for his work with Queen. I met
him In London. I told him of my plans for the new LP and he
suggested producing it almost immediately. The band is still
new in America. We had a lot of success in England and Japan,
but to completely dominate the USA will be a lot more difficult
because it is a much bigger country". In America it is planned
to put the band back out on the road as a support act next time
around, as most of the publicity gained there on their last
l outing has now fizzled out.

What the LP will sound like is anyone's guess, but according
to Denise Southam, who spoke to Neil Murray a while back, Mr,
Coverdale regards it as "the Physical Graffiti of the 80's".,
whew! Denise says the material does indeed have a Zeppelinesque
feel on certain tracks, and that there are fewer of the usual
mid-pace 'Snake songs, with a bigger distinction between the
faster, heavier stuff, and the slower material.

This
is one we should have got round to last time, but space ran
out. In the end it comes down to being just another Glenn Hughes
session, when for a time it really looked as if it was going
to be something rather more lasting. The tracks are all listed
with personnel on the inner bag, and the line-up seems to be
different for just about every track! Glenn plays bass on the
title track, and then also does lead vocals on three other numbers.
It's quite good stuff too, though the material isn't that strong
- Glenn just doing what he's asked. While with Gary Moore, I
see the bastards have now issued 'Rockin Every Night' in the
UK officially. Nice trick on the fans, who all coughed up for
the import copies which Virgins went to all the trouble to get!
You lose the gatefold sleeve, but that's about all. Paicey throughout
of course.

GLENN HUGHES with Black Sabbath

Seventh
Star - Album Review

"Bought
the new Black Sabbath album. I can't stop playing the damn thing.
Hughes' vocals are quite simply magnificent. In my opinion it's
even better than Born Again. Favourite tracks are Angry Heart
and In Memory - soulful Black Sabbath!" Brian McPherson.

"If you are expecting the dull, turgid, doom-laden Sabbath of
old then this album will surprise you. lommi has managed to
keep the modern sound first hinted at on Born Again. Starting
off with the highly charged In For The Kill it is immediately
apparent that both lommi and Hughes have found in each other
the perfect vehicles for furthering their careers, and of dispelling
any doubts that either of them couldn't cut it. The vocals steal
the show - how does he get such a range?"PJ Thomas. (I'd have had more reviews, but once the departure
was announced, a lot of what people said or hoped for immediately
became redundant.)

Cobo
Hall Arena, Detroit, March 22nd 1986 - Live
Review

"I
managed to get my mk4 pic signed as Glean arrived at the ball,
looking in fine shape but sounding a little hoarse. This was
only the second show of the tour, and it looked and sounded
that way. Mob Rules starts things off with Glenn sounding pretty
good, but there was a while to go yet. War Pigs was really bad,
and Glenn left out the third verse altogether. He was coughing
a lot on stage too, during and between songs. Neon Nights was
great and here's where things got started, Glenn sounded much
better and seemed to be feeling a bit more at ease. Earlier
on it looked like he really wanted a bass in his hands, and
he didn't know what to do with himself. Black Sabbath cropped
up, with some brilliant screams during it. Heaven & Hell
closed the set, then a quick encore of Paranoid. Glenn breathed
a little life into this dinosaur with some unique phrasing.
As well as the tracks mentioned, they did some of the new album
- Danger Zone, Heart Like Wheel, So Stranger To Love, Turn To
Stone, and Seventh Star." Jason Chepeka.

Glenn
Leaves Black Sabbath - News

No
sooner was he in, than he was out. With the new Sabbath's album
getting a reasonably favourable review from most sources, Glenn's
performance being rated by people even if they didn't go a bundle
on the rest of the material, we all thought that as the American
tour got under way on March 21st, this really was it. However,
Glenn was out by the 28th. Reports say it was lommi's decision.
He was unhappy with Glenn's performance, and felt he was unable
to cope with the older Sabbath stuff (me too!); more of a problem
than it might sound as the sets were surprisingly reliant on
tracks from earlier line-ups. Glenn's departure didn't prevent
all of you from checking out lommi's band when they finally
reached the UK, where they found tour t-shirts with Glenn's
face on, and the tour programme off the Born Again show being
sold as a "collectors Item"! Glenn was replaced by Ray Gillen
for the European leg of the tour, no relation. I've had reports
from America that the cancellation of the US leg was something
of a blessing as the band were hardly selling any tickets at
all, so that while it would have been feasable to have played
at least a large percentage of the shows with the new singer,
this was not done.